Godknows Dembure is a teacher at Makumimavi Primary School. Previously he worked at Nharira Primary School under the chieftainship of Chief Chivese. He has eight years of experience as a teacher. While teaching at Nharira, Dembure established a chess club to help uplift young girls by improving their critical thinking and maths skills. Dembure learned to play chess as a trainee teacher. “I realized that young girls’ problems – such as unwanted pregnancies and child marriages – force them to drop out of school early,” he says. “I seek to change that through chess, which empowers these girls, boosts their confidence to speak up and keeps them safe from male predators in the villages.” The chess club is called Queens of Chivhu, an homage to the film Queen of Katwe from which Dembure drew inspiration. “I started playing chess for fun until I started participating in tournaments and won some games. After seeing people go far with chess, I introduced it to the girls.” The Queens of Chivhu have traveled to several local and international tournaments. They rely on donations to meet travel costs, which is not always reliable. In 2018, despite winning the Zimbabwe national championships, the club could not attend the Africa tournament in Egypt.
